Panhandle parasailing accident might spur overdue action

Anti-regulation Republican leader changes tune after tragedy hits close to home

July 27, 2013|Michael Mayo, Sun Sentinel Columnist

Quiz time. Which of the following groups is regulated by Florida law and has mandatory licensing and training requirements?

a)Ocean lifeguards.

b)Parasailing operators.

c)Interior designers.

Tourists who flock to our beaches, and sometimes soar high above them, would probably be shocked to learn that the lone correct answer is "c." Florida demands more from people designing restaurants or offices than from those entrusted with so many lives.

It's up to cities and counties to decide what they require from beach lifeguards, and it's up to nobody to require anything — except a standard boating license — from the estimated 120 parasailing companies that work Florida's coasts.

This is what our regulation-averse, Republican-dominated Legislature has allowed.

But now that a high-profile parasailing accident has occurred on the home shores of Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, the anti-regulation sentiments might be changing.

Earlier this month, two 17-year-old girls from Indiana were seriously injured after their tow line apparently detached in gusty winds in Panama City Beach, which is part of Gaetz's district. The teens slammed into the upper part of a high-rise building, then careened into power lines and a parking lot. Video taken by a horrified beach onlooker aired on national newscasts.

Now Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford are finally talking about some minimum safety and inspection standards for the industry.

It's sad that Gaetz couldn't see the need for some common-sense steps until tragedy hit so close to home. The discomforting lesson for us in South Florida: Until something bad happens in a Republican district in the Panhandle or Central Florida, an issue won't be taken seriously. Even if it involves tourists, the lifeblood of Florida's economy.

Earlier this year, a parasailing bill pushed by two South Florida Democrats went nowhere in Tallahassee.

State Sen. Maria Sachs, who represents coastal parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, filed the measure after last year's parasailing death of a vacationing Connecticut woman near Pompano Beach. Kathleen Miskell, 28, fell more than 150 feet to her death after she broke free from the tandem harness she rode with her husband.

It marked the sixth parasailing fatality in Florida since 2000, the second off Pompano Beach since 2007. Over the past dozen years, there have been at least 20 parasailing accidents around the state.

But when Sachs and state Rep. Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed, D-Deerfield Beach, crafted a bill that would have required inspections for ropes, harnesses and other equipment, and barred operations too close to shore or during heavy wind or severe weather, Republicans launched their usual "nanny state" objections.

And the parasailing industry said it could be trusted to regulate itself.

"We're just not being looked at correctly…we're being looked at like a bunch of rogue pirates," James Vaught, managing partner of Aquatic Adventures, told the Panama City News-Herald in April.

That would be the same Aquatic Adventures that operated the boat involved in the July accident.

Back in April, Vaught spoke against the bill, telling the News-Herald how an industry group in Orlando was crafting safety measures. "We've started creating our own standards," Vaught said. "We've got a good plan going."

Even regulation-averse politicians like Gaetz seem to recognize it's time for Plan B (as in bill.) Better late than never.